The Ashkenazi Revolution

32contrast to the concept of righteousness and propriety of the People ofIsrael. The king is, however, a man who leads the tribes of Israel to foreignwars, and who holds the military means to destroy his internal foes.3With the developments that occurred within recent decades in the Land ofIsrael, revelations and moods, typical of the ancient era of the first kings ofIsrael, have blossomed in a surprising way. The various armedorganizations, “Shomer”, “Haganah”, “Etzel” and “Lehi”, that had battledexternal enemies, had maintained, at the same time, military tribunalswhich had executed undesirable people – who were not always in thecategory of abominable informants. In many cases, those brought out forexecution were glorious idealists, who have turned into dangerouscompetitors. The death of Lishansky is shrouded in mystery, but there isnot much doubt that the hand of “Shomer” was involved. The “Haganah”executed de-Haan. In later times, “Haganah” carried out a campaign ofinforming, detentions and torture against the people of “Etzel”, and so wasmurdered, by their order, the “Etzel”member Yedidiah Segal. Theheadquarters of “Lehi” acted as a military tribunal and carried outexecutions, sometimes without justification, of people who stood in theirway. The march of “Lehi” member Yehudah Aryeh haLevi, who hadcrossed over to the ranks of “Haganah” after the founding of the state,resulted in his execution. Furthermore: All of the armed organizations thatwere active during the last years of British rule, spied against one anothervigorously and they executed, on one fundamental level or another, plans toeliminate competitors as opportunity arose, or to defend themselves againstplots by hostile organizations to eliminate them. The negotiations betweenvarious armed organizations, even between “Haganah” and “Palmach”,were full of suspicion and plots. It is fairly certain that, with theappearance of Yisrael Galili, as a go-between for “Etzel” and Ben-Gurion,in the weeks prior to the sinking of the ship Altalena, there was a plot noless than that of Yoav Ben Zeruiah when he sent messengers after Avner toseek to bring him back to Hebron. “So Avner returned to Hebron and Yoavbrought him aside in the gate to speak to him privately, and he struck him